Here are 5 Shows on TV and 5 More Just Like Them You Should Be Watching

Here are 5 shows currently airing on TV including American Horror Story and Sons of Anarchy and 5 more shows that act as their counterparts that you should definitely check out…

By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer

One of the best parts about the television viewing experience these days is being able to find a diamond in the rough thanks to streaming services like Netflix, HBO GO, Amazon Fire, Hulu and other outlets that help bring series from the past back to life for a second run.

If not for the wonder of DVD, the masses of Firefly fans that now permeate every comic book convention across the world may not exist because the show certainly didn’t survive based on ratings alone. Actually that’s the case for most of the series I’m going to talk about in today’s feature because some shows are only recognized for how great they are sadly after they are already off the air.

Instead of just pumping up series canceled from yesteryear, I’m going to give you five current shows on television (one is ending this Sunday) and the counterpart you can check out on Netflix or another streaming service to give it another go around. You’d be surprised how many people never even heard of some of these shows, but once they are discovered it’s like a whole new obsession is created.

So let’s take a look at the top five shows currently on television and the counterparts you need to watch.

If you’re watching: American Horror Story: Freak Show

You should be watching: Carnivale (available on HBO GO)

Carnivale was a wonderfully crafted series that ran between 2003 and 2005 featuring several notable actors and actresses including Nick Stahl, Clea DuVall, and Clancy Brown. The show centered around two men — Ben Hawkins and Brother Justin Crowe — who walked similar paths until fate intervened and made them destined to clash for the souls of all mankind. Hawkins, a destitute drifter from a farm in Oklahoma who joins a traveling carnival while possessing a healing gift for anything he touches, but soon starts experiencing mind rattling dreams that haunt him. Meanwhile in California, Brother Justin is a preacher in an old time revival who starts experiencing similar dreams and before too long he amasses great power and influence from his mind and ability to make people visualize their most terrifying sins in a series of visions.

The two stories start a country apart, but eventually both of them begin seeing each other in their respective dreams and it’s clear they are going to collide one day with only one of them remaining alive when it’s over.

The plot, acting and dialogue are pristine. The character development is special and the interactions and relationships between Ben and the carnies as well as Brother Justin with his sister and congregation are both frightening and exhilarating.

Sadly, HBO opted to cancel the show after only two seasons of a planned six from creator Daniel Knauf. Still, those two years managed to create one of the best shows to ever air on television. Fans of American Horror Story: Freak Show will enjoy the similar traveling sideshow theme in both shows, but Carnivale keeps things dated in the Dust Bowl era amidst the Great Depression and there won’t be any musical numbers featuring songs by David Bowie or Lana Del Rey.

One other bonus? There are no clowns in Carnivale but interesting enough John Carroll Lynch, who plays Twisty in American Horror Story, also plays a featured henchman in season two of the HBO show.

If you’re watching: Sons of Anarchy

You should be watching: Terriers (available on Netflix)

It still makes me sad to this day we never got at least a second season of the series ‘Terriers’ from creator Ted Griffin and executive producer Shawn Ryan (who is also responsible for ‘The Shield’, which is where Sons creator Kurt Sutter first worked).

The show centered around two private investigators played by Donal Logue and Michael Raymond-James as they investigated a shady real estate baron accused of murder and extortion to cover up one of his less than scrupulous land deals.

‘Terriers’ was a drama/comedy usually injecting equal parts into every episode. Logue stood out once again as an ex-cop turned PI who battles with his past addiction to alcohol while also dealing with his ex-wife, who is getting remarried but he still loves very much. Logue remains one of the most talented and underrated actors in all of Hollywood and this was a starring vehicle that finally allowed him to shine. He’s been a standout supporting actor for years with roles in shows like ‘Vikings’ and ‘Sons of Anarchy’ as well as his current run on ‘Gotham’. ‘Terriers’ was a series that allowed Logue to lead and he delivered an Emmy worthy performance as troubled investigator, Hank Dolworth.

There’s a lot of crossover appeal with Sons of Anarchy considering many of the same actors and actresses between the two shows (Rockmond Dunbar plays a police detective in Terriers and he was also Sheriff Eli Roosevelt on Sons of Anarchy) as well as a familiar California setting (although Terriers takes place in a beach town).

There are only 13 episodes of ‘Terriers’ so it’s pretty easy to blow through the entire first season in a matter of days, but the ending will leave your jaw on the ground and finger on the phone as you call FX and demand more seasons of this fantastically underrated show.

If you’re watching: Scorpion

You should be watching: Chuck (currently available on Netflix)

When I did my initial review of Scorpion earlier this year I said the show reminded me of a mix between Die Hard 2 and the series ‘Chuck’. Now that Scorpion has evolved over the last month, I wouldn’t say the Die Hard 2 part applies quite as much, but the ‘Chuck’ comparisons have only gotten stronger.

“Chuck” was a series on NBC that focused on a faux-Best Buy employee named Chuck Bartowski, who was a massive underachiever in his life after attending Stanford and originally expecting to be a highly successful mind in the world of computers. Instead he’s stuck fixing and repairing laptops as part of the ‘Nerd Herd’. His entire world changes when an old pal from college sends him a disc that ends up being a program that downloads the entire espionage and defense database into his head and there’s no way to get it out.

Chuck ends up working with two agents — played by Yvonne Strahovski and Adam Baldwin — and the trio works together to solve crimes and stop attacks while also trying to figure out why he was chosen to become the most important intelligence asset in the history of the United States. The show was a geek’s dream come true laced with tons of comic book references, a soundtrack that may be the best in television history and the occasional cosplay outfit including Strahovski rocking the slave Leia costume at one point.

“Chuck” remains one of the best cult shows of the last 20 years, especially with the support fans showed to help keep the series on the air year after year. Six season later, “Chuck” came to an end, but it’s a show that’s worth watching over and over again from start to finish. “Chuck” is a series I’d recommend to anyone, regardless of their love for a show like “Scorpion”.

If you’re watching: Under the Dome

You should be watching: Jericho (currently available on Netflix)

Before the town of Chester’s Mill was hopelessly locked behind a big invisible force field, the Kansas hamlet known as Jericho was dealing with nuclear fallout after the United States endured a terrorist attack that wiped out every major city in the country.

Created by Stephen Chbosky, Josh Schaer and Jonathan Steinberg, Jericho starred Skeet Ulrich, Lennie James (The Walking Dead) and a host of others as the small Kansas town faces the reality of world lost in anarchy. Dwindling food supplies and growing threats outside town limits make Jericho a taught drama filled with plenty of action and suspense as well as political intrigue as information about who caused this attack starts to come together week after week.

Jericho was unfortunately met with lackluster ratings in its freshman season and ultimately cancelled by CBS. A grassroots movement of fans petitioned and built such a rabid following that the network brought back the show for a seven-episode season 2 to allow the series to come to a conclusion.

Now I’ll be the first person to admit two things — the first season of Jericho might be one of the best single seasons for any television show in history. It’s that good. I can also admit season two wasn’t all that great. Season 2 of Jericho had to move so quickly to end the series that it almost feels like a different show. The tension felt in season one as town residents dealt with food shortages and a looming danger from surrounding cities make Jericho can’t miss television with each episode out shining the next. Season 2 didn’t have nearly the same intrigue as the writers tried to advance the story so quickly that they forgot what made the show great in the first place. That said, Jericho season 2 is still worth watching, but season 1 is what really stands out.

There’s not nearly as much science fiction in Jericho as there is in Under the Dome, but the situational stories are far better and the acting is right on par with the current CBS summer hit. Jericho is set up more as an apocalyptic drama, but it’s so good you’ll get lost in the episodes and by the end you’ll be screaming at CBS to please just give you one more season.

If you’re watching: Boardwalk Empire

You should be watching: Peaky Blinders (currently on Netflix)

The final suggestion is a real no brainer and probably the most obvious one on the entire list, but it still needs to be mentioned. It’s also a great way to move from one show to the other because this Sunday marks the series finale for Boardwalk Empire on HBO and Peaky Blinders just started season 2 on the BBC with new episodes coming to Netflix in November.

Peaky Blinders (like Boardwalk Empire) is a period piece — this series set in 1919 Birmingham, England just after soldiers returned from World War I. In the slums of Birmingham, the Shelby family has started to build a business around bookmaking with horse races while inducting new members into the gang known as the Peaky Blinders. The group gets the nickname from sewing razorblades into the peaks of their caps (and this story, much like Boardwalk Empire is based on some actual events that took place).

With only six episodes in the initial season, Peaky Blinders is an extremely easy watch, but by the end you’ll be asking for season two immediately. Cillian Murphy — best known for his roles in 28 Days Later and the Dark Knight trilogy — plays family leader Tommy Shelby, and he’s nothing short of phenomenal playing the part. He’s joined by Sam Neill as a police investigator sent to Birmingham on orders of Winston Churchill to seek out a shipment of stolen guns that were taken from a nearby port. Once he arrives in town, however, he soon runs into an even bigger problem — the Peaky Blinders.

When the awards start getting handed out in 2015, Peaky Blinders definitely deserves some mentions. The show is brilliantly written and directed plus the actors chosen for each particular role deliver outstanding performances. It’s also a very interesting period piece for Americans because this is a culture that we’ve never really seen before and from everything I can see, they get it right on the money.

Peaky Blinders, much like “Chuck”, is a series I’d recommend to anyone who likes good TV. This has quickly become one of my favorite shows and I’m sure it will become one of yours as well.